Friday, April 12, 2013

Introduction: Where's My Flying Car?


Introduction: Where’s My Flying Car?

This blog is about the intersection of trends identifying advances in the field of communications identified by France Cairncross in her book The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change our Lives, and popular genres of communications technologies identified by Straubhaar, LaRose, and Davenport. Genres of this nature include entertainment (including music and movies), online games, social media (including Facebook and Twitter), blogs, search engines, and portals.  The two genres I have chosen are social media and blogs, and out of the 30 trends identified by Cairncross, the three trends I have chosen are the Death of Distance, the Loss of Privacy, and More Customized Content.

The constant evolving, improving, and advancing nature web content leads to the widespread access of technology to people around the world.






The Trendspotter’s Guide to New Communications:
The 30 Trends Identified by Frances Cairncross

1.     The death of distance
2.     The fate of location
3.     The irrelevance of size
4.     Improved connections
5.     More customized content
6.     A deluge of information
7.     Increased value of brand
8.     Increased value in niches
9.     Communities of practice
10.  Near-frictionless markets
11.  Increased mobility
12.  More global reach, more local provisions
13.  The loose-knit corporation
14.  More minnows, more giants
15.  Manufacturers as service providers
16.  The inversion of home and office
17.  The proliferation of new ideas
18.  A new trust
19.  People as the ultimate scarce resource
20.  The shift from government policing to self-policing
21.  Loss of privacy
22.  Redistribution of wages
23.  Less need for immigration and emigration
24.  A market for citizens
25.  Rebirth of cities
26.  The rise of English
27.  Communities of culture
28.  Improved writing and reading skills
29.  Rebalance of political power
30.  Global peace


About Frances Cairncross: (According to the JLA)
  • ·      Frances Cairncross is “one of the UK’s most respected economic commentators.”
  • ·      Former Management Editor of the Economist
  • ·      Senior Positions at The Times, The Banker, The Observer, and the Guardian
  • ·      Focuses: environmental change, the internet, and mass communications
  • ·      MA in Economics from Brown University
  • ·      Honorary degrees from Trinity College Dublin, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, City, Loughborough and Kingston Universities
  • ·      Rector of Exeter College, Oxford
  • ·      Past President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science
  • ·      In her book The Death of Distance, she discusses the Internet and the global communications revolution; “She discusses how the web will change companies and outlines how businesses, governments and environmentalists can make common cause.”


In the following video, you can hear Francis Cairncross speak at “Sir Winston Scott Lecture” in Barbados, on Three Transport Revolutions:
  • ·      The first revolution: Goods
  • ·      The second revolution: People
  • ·      The third revolution: Ideas

She also touches on the idea of transporting ideas and knowledge, and its importance in terms of the transformation of companies through Internet and technology advancement.


Photo and information sources:



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